Edwards Oratory Lacks Only Kicker

Pittsburgh - HERMAN EDWARDS is optimistic enough to look at the Jets and yesterday's game and say they are knocking on destiny's door. There is a basis for the optimism. His starting quarterback missed a day of practice last week because of a stomach virus. The Jets said his backup quarterback was home in Georgia with an ailing mother. His best defensive lineman was out because of a sprained right knee.

The Jets pushed the Pittsburgh Steelers to overtime, then lost. They had the Steelers reeling and all but out, so close to pulling off one of the great upsets in franchise history. But Pittsburgh is 16-1 for a reason: the coordinators make the right calls at the right time, and the playmakers make plays at the right time.

"I told my players not to put their heads down," a dejected Edwards said. "I thought they competed and had some shots to win the game and we did not do it. It will be a long, lost season, and we will have to deal with that."

The Jets nearly matched the Steelers. Santana Moss returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown, and Reggie Tongue returned an interception 86 yards for a touchdown.

Jets defensive end Shaun Ellis stripped the ball from Jerome Bettis with the Jets leading, 17-10, early in the fourth quarter. But the Jets' offense failed to convert -- on third-and-3, Chad Pennington threw behind a wide-open Moss. Twelve plays later, Pittsburgh was in the end zone and tied the score.

The Jets then drove to the Pittsburgh 28, but Doug Brien missed a field goal. A play later, David Barrett intercepted a Ben Roethlisberger pass and returned it to the Pittsburgh 37. Brien missed another field goal on the final play of regulation. The Steelers finally sent the Jets packing on Jeff Reed's 33-yard field goal in overtime.

In fact, the Jets did everything but score an offensive touchdown. "That is how we play," Edwards said.

That has been the Jets' problem: while the defense surges, this time not merely stopping Pittsburgh but also scoring points despite the absence of the injured end John Abraham, the offense has been trying to squeeze blood out of the proverbial turnip. I realize that Edwards is wounded deeply by this loss, but he must deal with this offensive shortcoming, and soon. He has to get another offensive coordinator.

Edwards may have come to that conclusion as well. Asked if he had to do some soul-searching, he said tersely: "We did not score any touchdowns on offense. Look at the football game. We did not score. We scored on special teams and we scored on defense and we kicked a field goal. That is how we scored today."

Yesterday, the Jets nearly pulled off a miracle. And they should have. Now it's back to the drawing board.

The Jets won their only N.F.L. championship in the 1968 season. Boston won the N.B.A. finals, Detroit won the World Series and Montreal won the Stanley Cup that year; in the next 36 years, each of those teams won at least another title. But not the Jets.

Why? Bad breaks, bad luck, low expectations, lack of continuity.

The Jets began in the American Football League as the Titans. They moved from the Polo Grounds to Shea Stadium to Giants Stadium.

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The '68 Jets, led by Joe Namath, were a catalyst in making football the national passion. The league has been waiting for a triumphant Jets return for more than three decades. "I just think that it's a long history of not being consistent, for one," Edwards said earlier in the week. "It's a long history of being somewhat of a nomad team, not really having a place to play."

Edwards added: "There's an old saying around here -- when I first got here, every time that we used to lose a game -- 'That's the same old Jets.' After a while I thought my middle name was 'the same old Jets.' Sometimes I think the players around here think it's the same old Jets. It's not the same old Jets. It's not as far as I'm concerned.

"I think these guys have accomplished a lot in four years. The same old Jets didn't go to the playoffs in three out of four years. They didn't do that. The same old Jets probably would have lost last Sunday."

The same old Jets probably would have lost yesterday, too.

At the same time, these "new Jets" didn't improve on the old Jets failures at the moment of truth. Edwards and General Manager Terry Bradway will have to find out why.

Yes, Pittsburgh is an outstanding team, but the Jets knew they did not have to play a perfect game to beat the Steelers. Just a complete game. The defense did, the special teams did, but the offense did not generate a touchdown.

These Jets are close, although Edwards sounds at times as if he has taken his team, his flock, his tribe to the foot of the Promised Land but senses that he may not get there.

"Sometimes we get beat, but I know one thing," Edwards said last week. "These guys have a mind-set every week we go play: we're going to try and win the game, and that's important. Where that is in Jet history, I have no idea. I'll be long gone and they can figure that out. There'll be another guy up here, and he'll be talking about what he's trying to do.

"I wish him luck, whoever the next guy is. I'm trying to win a championship. Whether I do or not, I don't know. But I'm trying as hard as I can physically do it. That's just me. I know one thing: I'm going to try and make it better for the next guy."

The Jets lost this game, but in Edwards's optimistic world, his team is still knocking on destiny's door.

Sports of The Times Correction: January 20, 2005, Thursday A Sports of The Times column on Sunday about the New York Jets' 20- 17 loss in overtime to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a National Football League playoff game gave an incorrect surname in some copies for the Jets' place-kicker, who missed two field-goal attempts. He is Doug Brien, not O'Brien.